Threat on national security: Centre blocks 104 YouTube channels

New Delhi: The Union government informed on Thursday that it had blocked 104 YouTube channels, 45 videos, four Facebook accounts, three Instagram accounts, five Twitter handles and six websites for the sake of national; security.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that the listed media were spreading misformation and threatening national security, PTI reported.

Thakur was responding to questions in Rajya Sabha. He said that the 69A of the Information Technology Act provides for blocking of content over digital media in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to the above.

According to him, under the provisions of Part II of the IT Rules, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued directions to block 1,643 user-generated URLs, including webpages, websites, posts and accounts on social media platforms, from 2021 to October 2022.